First Day of School Fall 2010!

So, it seems I have this bad habit of completely neglecting any summer posting...it is what it is, I guess. The girls began yet another year of school this morning. Katherine is officially in High School starting her freshman year this year!! Kora is starting in 5th grade and pretty excited to have a good friend living right across the street who will be keeping her company on the school bus. Kallen doesn't start any school but remains at home to keep me from feeling too old. She was more than happy to accompany me to Kroger this morning. We shall spend hours of quality time together while we wait for her sisters to return home.


Katherine: Freshman in High School, 14 and a half years old. Less than one year away from having her driver's permit (we have been reminded)!!



Kora: 5th Grader, one month shy of 10 years old. More than ready to take on the world!!


Kallen: Big Girl, 2 and a half years old. Completely potty-trained and lovin' her new Big Girl Bed!!

Geneva on the Lake

So, for Memorial weekend, we ended up heading north to Lake Erie. We found a quaint little cottage to rent for a few days in this bizarre little town called Geneva on the Lake. We found a "beach" to visit at the state park there and really just hung out, relaxing and playing. It was a pretty great escape even though we seemed to be the only ones there who didn't arrive on motorbike...

Kallen could not get enough of the beach--"I luva da beach!!" Katherine spent a good deal of her time studying for school finals despite our labelling her a "total nerd." Kora loved the playtime on the beach almost as much as Kallen! Certainly the break that we all needed!

Spring Break in NYC

 

Once the Easter festivities had finished, we made plans to leave early the next morning (before Kallen awoke) to head to NYC! We had promised Katherine and Kora a trip--Katherine wasa eager to return and Kora had never been. Katherine had previously planned out our entire trip. The few days that we spent there were jam-packed with tons of sights to see and places to visit. Among our stops were Statue of Liberty (including a hike to the crown!), Ellis Island, The MET, The MOMA, The Natural History Museum, the NYC public library, Grand Central Station, several areas of Central Park, The Dakota, seeing Wicked, Times Square (including several stops at Toys R Us, Hershey's Store, M&Ms World, and souvenier shops), Mood fabric store, FAO Schwartz, The Apple Store, The Plaza, The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock(efeller), and more that I can't remember right now. We had SO much fun! The girls are eager to go back again. Next time we hope to take Kallen. She got the spend those few days being ridiculously spoiled by her Aunts.

Easter Eggs and Scranton

This year Easter Sunday was spent in the Scranton area with the Beeman family. We had a very yummy dinner at Marlo's house and went to the lake for our Easter Egg Hunt. Marlo was an especially fantastic hostess and took us to some fun Scranton sights while we were there as well. One significant event that no one was fast enough to get photo proof of, came when a Bald Eagle flew over the lake when we first arrived there for the hunt. We all saw it and no one got a photo. So bummed...but incredible nonetheless!






















Marlo took us to Nay Aug Park (I don't think I had ever been before)--we hiked around and saw some cool sights. The girls all had a good time!

Kallen Obsesses...

Over the last few months, Kallen has decided to start obsessing... She started with her books. She LOVES to be read to and developed a nightly routine of convincing someone to read ALL of her favorite books to her just before bed. I was especially pleased by this obsession. Reading is all good.




Her most recent obsession began when Eric decided to use my upcoming birthday as an excuse to indulge his obsession and be one of the first to own an iPad! My birthday gift quickly became a household obsession for everyone except me! Kallen has mastered the iPad and can operate nearly every app on it with little problem. Her favorite place to visit is YouTube. She knows how to find the history and watch her favorite videos. She can then find other videos similar to her favorites. It's an endless entertainer for her. I find myself pretty constantly monitoring her viewing as I haven't yet figured out how to filter out the inappropriate...what fun for me!

Our February Snow!!!

February brought more snow than we were expecting here in the Cincinnati area. It did make for some fun snow days and plenty of opportunities for Snowmen. Kora could play in the snow all day long. Katherine enjoys brief but intense snow play. Kallen decided it was fun to eat the snow. Eric and I got plenty of exercise keeping the driveway and sidewalks free from snow.

Playing catch-up in Honor of Dad, yet again...

So, I guess it's a good thing these occasions keep coming around or I would never get my blogging done. I know Dad is missing the blog updates so for Father's Day, here are some of the things that our family has been up to for the last 4 and a half months. It's not complete, but these are the occasions for which I have photos...

Kallen turns TWO!!

Once all the excitement of the holidays had died down, we were thrown into one more party event as Kallen's birthday came fast--January 10th! Kallen officially weighed nearly 24 pounds at her check-up and the doctor was thrilled with her growth despite some who believe she hasn't grown at all in the last few months. She says many words and phrases now and is at the perfect age for Eric to teach her all sorts of "precious" things. Luckily, he hasn't yet taught her to say "Mommy is a witch!" (one of Katherine's first sentences) She does regularly tell her Daddy "I love you the most!" He's endlessly pleased...

Kallen LOVED her kitchen. She wasn't too certain what it was at first but once her sister's got in and started playing, she quickly became interested and a little possessive. Her cake, while not so lovely appearing, was thankfully edible! We all enjoyed it this year. I found a recipe that I will use again that contains no eggs, butter, or milk, of course. Kallen, naturally, never really dug into the cake. Instead she ate the berries off of it. She was happy.



Once we lit the candles, Kallen really had no idea what to do. She stood and watched them for a while until finally her sisters joined her to show her how to blow them out. She has now learned the words to the Happy Birthday song and will spontaneously sing it to her toys.




I believe she has now decided that opening her mouth really wide is how you smile big. She's been doing that rather often these days.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2009!

Merry, merry Christmas! What a fantastic thing, Christmas morning! Kallen was slow to awake and wondered what the excitement was all about but soon got into the fun. Kora and Katherine apparently woke around 3 AM and waited desperately for the fire and the lights and the music that signals Santa's visit. By 9AM, Eric and I were back to sleep for a perfect Christmas morning nap.

The girls ended up spending most of their day in the basement trying out Beatles Rockband. By the end of the day, the whole family was hooked. Incredibly fun!





Kallen's favorite toy, aside from the drums, was her giraffe bike and her Dora doll that Kora got for her. Katherine was thrilled to have a new iHome to make sure she can wake up to her favorite music and Kora got the juke box to play her iPod. Everyone had a very nice, very low-key Christmas day!

Cincinnati Children's Choir

Kora decided she wanted to join a choir group this year. She ended up having a great time meeting some new friends and going to practices every week but she really loved the excitement of the performances. Throughout December, we got to head downtown to the University of Cincinnati and watch Kora sing as part of the Cincinnati Children's Choir. Thanks to her lack of vertical blessings, she is always in the front row and easy to spot. You did a great job, Kora. She now looks forward to the choir starting up again next month.

Festival of Lights--Cincinnati Zoo

We actually scheduled it and made it to the festival of lights at the zoo this year. We always enjoy going and usually end up remembering too late that we never made it. This year we took Beau along with us as he is somewhat of a prodigy when it comes to light shows--he's got a show of his own in his front yard that made the news this year.

We all had a pretty fun evening and ended up picking a good night for it--not too terribly cold and not too crowded. We look forward to more trips to the zoo once the weather warms up a bit.

Katherine makes it to 14 Years!!

Unbelievable...Katherine is now 14. She enjoyed a day of whatever she chose to do, starting with nutella crepes at Ihop and ending with hours of playing with her new phone. Really? Hours? A phone? Yes, if fact, hours. It's so bizarre but she was happy. It's now actually a couple months since the actual birthday happened and I still can't think about it for too long or I get pangs of fear/anxiety/sadness and the like. She's a fantastically wonderful daughter. It's just too bad you can't all have her ; )